“He went back to where it stopped.”
The transfer portal is a mechanism, a digital list of names seeking new destinations. But for one name, entering it in April 2025 wasn’t about finding a new beginning; it was about circling back to an old, interrupted one.
When Ben Simmons, the former No. 1 overall NBA draft pick, placed his name in the portal, the expected narrative was of a veteran seeking a final collegiate stop to rehab his value. The destination he chose, however, silenced that noise and replaced it with a profound, echoing question. He wasn’t looking for a new school.
He was returning to Louisiana State University. He was walking back onto the campus he left nearly a decade earlier, back into the gym where his legend was born and his first, complicated chapter was abruptly closed.
This was not a transfer. It was a return. A conscious decision to stand in the exact physical space where his public story began, and where, in many emotional ways, a part of it had remained, frozen in time, waiting for him to come back.
Part I: The Ghost in the Gym LSU, 2016
To feel the weight of his return, you must first understand the ghost he is returning to meet. The Ben Simmons who arrived at LSU in 2015 was a generational prospect, a 6’10” point-forward from Australia hailed as the next LeBron James.
For one season, he was a basketball unicorn on a mediocre team, putting up staggering all-around numbers (19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists) while being forced to operate in a system that failed to maximize his transcendent passing and open-floor brilliance.
The chapter ended not with a cutting down of nets or a deep NCAA Tournament run, but with a quiet withdrawal. LSU, barred from the postseason, finished its year. Simmons, having fulfilled his obligatory year, declared for the NBA Draft. He left Baton Rouge with every individual accolade but a hollow feeling.
There was no signature March moment, no chance to prove his game translated to win-or-go-home stakes on the college stage. He was the No. 1 pick, but his collegiate career was an asterisk a “what if” attached to a highlight reel. LSU was not a footnote; it was an interrupted prologue. He left for the NBA before the story of “Ben Simmons, college star” had a chance to find its climax.
Part II: The Unraveling and the Search The NBA Years
What followed in the NBA was a story of incredible highs and devastating lows. Rookie of the Year in Philadelphia. All-Star appearances. A max contract. He was a Defensive Player of the Year candidate, a breathtaking passer in transition, the engine of a contender.
Then, the unraveling: the infamous pass in the 2021 playoffs against Atlanta, the fractured relationship with the 76ers, the trade to Brooklyn, and the debilitating back injuries that stole his athleticism and, seemingly, his joy for the game.
The narrative around Simmons curdled. He was no longer the can’t-miss prospect; he was a cautionary tale about potential unfulfilled, about the psychological toll of injury and criticism. The “Ben Simmons” name became associated with absence—from shooting, from resilience, from the court itself. His identity, once so sure and promising, became a public question mark.
In this context, his decision to return to college via the transfer portal (made possible by new NCAA rules and his limited prior play) transcends basketball mechanics. It is a psychological maneuver of profound resonance. When the forward path became shrouded in injury and doubt, he looked backward, to the last place he was universally celebrated for his pure, unadulterated talent, before the narrative complexities began.
Part III: The Return Confrontation, Not Nostalgia
Returning to LSU is not an act of nostalgia. It is an act of confrontation. He is not returning to relive glory days; he is returning to face the ghost of his unfinished self.
- Confronting the Place: The Pete Maravich Assembly Center holds the echoes of his earlier, freer game. Walking back onto that floor is to stand in the physical embodiment of his “before” picture—before the NBA pressure, before the injuries, before the criticism hardened into his identity.
- Confronting the Age: At 29, he will be a decade older than most of his teammates. He is not a kid anymore. He is a man carrying the scars of a professional journey. This age gap makes the return starkly honest. He is not trying to be 19 again; he is trying to reconcile the 19-year-old phenom with the 29-year-old veteran.
- Confronting the Unfinished Business: The core emotional drive is likely the chance to finish something. His NBA career, through injury and circumstance, feels ruptured and unresolved. By returning to college, he is choosing a narrative he can potentially control and conclude on his own terms. It’s a chance to write an ending to a story that was left on a cliffhanger.
The choice is layered with emotional ambiguity. Is it a retreat? Or is it the bravest kind of advance a willingness to go back to the beginning to rebuild a foundation that has cracked? Is it about proving something to scouts, or about proving something to himself: that he can still play, that he can still lead, that the player he once was isn’t entirely lost?
Table: The Dueling Narratives of Ben Simmons’ Journey
| The Interrupted Chapter (LSU, 2016) | The Unraveling Narrative (NBA, 2017-2025) | The Return (LSU, 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Unquestioned, generational talent. | Talent questioned by fit, injury, and psychology. | An attempt to reconnect with raw ability. |
| Individual brilliance on a losing team. | Struggles within the pressure of a contender. | A controlled, lower-stakes environment. |
| Left before achieving team success. | Team success often marred by personal struggle. | A chance to chase team success authentically. |
| A story that ended abruptly. | A story that became complicated and painful. | A chance to write a new ending to an old story. |
Part IV: The Unanswerable Question What Does “Finish” Mean?
The emotional clarity of this return is not about predicting stats or LSU’s win total. The clarity is in understanding the profound human need it represents: the need to reconcile with one’s own past.
For Ben Simmons, LSU represents a simpler self. A self defined purely by potential, not by outcome. A self before the world formed its hardened opinions. By returning, he is attempting a dialogue between that younger self and the man he has become. Can he integrate the fearless phenom with the battle-tested veteran? Can he find joy in the game again in the place he first learned to love it?
The ending of this chapter is unwritten, and that is the point. This return may not lead to an NBA resurgence. It may not make LSU a national champion. Its success cannot be measured by trophies or draft position alone.
Its meaning will be found in the quiet moments: in the gym, late at night, putting up shots. In the locker room, offering advice to a teenager. In the feeling of wearing a college jersey again, not as a stepping stone, but as a destination chosen for the soul, not just the resume.